Boating adventures are wonderful, but sometimes you just want to duck out of real life and relax. For me, that involves stretching out on the boat deck while diving into an engrossing book. Seems like others enjoy escaping through reading as well; these book lovers were happy to share their recommendations for your boat reading pleasure.
Laura Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens is about a North Carolina marsh girl, surviving and thriving against the tide.
Sima Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes is a funny, smart book that is perfect to give your less than one-year-old resolutions a polite yet firm shove.
Tina Our Towns, A 100,000-Mile Journey Into the Heart of America by James and Deborah Fallows is a travelogue written in alternating chapters by a husband and wife team of pilots. They fly their small plane to “fly-over” towns in the U. S seeking to learn what average citizens of small towns and mid-sized cities think. This book offers a glimpse into the lives of citizens not often seen in national media.
Nicey The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai This page turner, chronicling the AIDS epidemic from its initial outbreak to the present, is a dazzling novel of friendship and redemption in the face of tragedy and loss set in 1980s Chicago and contemporary Paris. I loved loved loved this book!
Barry The Era, 1947-1957, When the Yankees, the Giants, and the Dodgers Ruled the World by Roger Kahn. Kahn is best remembered for his legendary “The Boys of Summer,” a retrospective on the Brooklyn Dodgers. This tri-team reminiscence is no less pertinent and an easy read for baseball lovers.
1948 by David Pietrusza A master of presidential history, Pietrusza gives away neither left nor right-leaning biases (he has also authored gems on Calvin Coolidge and JFK). Here he examines one of the greatest upsets in U.S. presidential history without drowning in mundane stats.
Candi The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff is a story about secret agents that were radio transmitters in France and how the government betrayed these women.
Joanna Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan. If you loved the movie, you’ll enjoy the book. It’s as much the story of
relationships between parents and children as it is between couples. Add a layer of wealth beyond imagining (or a lack thereof), and you have a juicy, lightweight beach read!
Effie The Masterpiece by Fiona Davis is historical fiction centered around Grand Central station and a group of artists, particularly a female artist whose work was only praised as the work of a genius under the guise that she was a man.
The Address by Fiona Davis Also a work of historical fiction with a cast of interesting characters living in the newly built Dakota building in NYC.
Joanne The Elephant Whisperer by Lawrence Anthony. The author is a conservationist who ran a game reserve in South Africa, and the story is about the herd of rogue elephants that he agreed to take to his reserve. I found the book to be a wonderful story and gave me hope that there are special people in the world doing the right thing.
Becoming by Michelle Obama. I especially enjoyed the beginning of the book where she tells of her childhood and upbringing in the Southside of Chicago. I also enjoyed the easy way Mrs. Obama related her special “story!”
Sheryl The Sounds of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vasquez gives a real sense of life in Colombia before things started to change. Interesting characters and a good story — I loved it.
Will A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini is a heartwarming story that follows the lives of two Afghan women living in the 1970s under the Taliban.
Chris Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick is the true story of the Whaler The Essex which inspired Moby Dick.
Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick documents the Pilgrims voyage across the Atlantic and their subsequent first Thanksgiving. Philbrick is a wonderful storyteller and a brilliant historian.
Jane The Abortionist by Rickie Solinger. Not a recent or light summer read, but an important one in these fraught times.
Hayley The Mothers by Brit Bennett, Elinor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman, Educated by Tara Westover, and There There by Tommy Orange. All great reads!
Editor’s Picks:
Bee Season by Myla Goldberg. If you love spelling bees or insight into how a family can unravel over something so slight, take a deep dive into this well-crafted book.
Us Against You: A Novel by Fredrik Backman. This novel is a bit dark, as human lives often are, but it was compelling in its use of hockey as the thing that both divided and united two towns tucked away in Nowheresville. The characters are compelling and the writing is outstanding.
Chasing Petalouthes by Effie Kammenou. As a big fan of the first two books in her “Gift” trilogy, the author’s multi-generational characters return to sweep you up into their lives and stories.
Paperback Writers is an anthology of original stories inspired by the Beatles. Some are excellent and will send you to seek out more of the writers’ works. Others are merely interesting, but all are worthwhile. Bonus: purchasing the book will benefit the World Literacy Foundation — a very good thing!
We Are Never Meeting in Real Life: Essays by Samantha Irby. There’s a lot of pathos in Irby’s life, but she is an observant and bitingly funny writer. If you appreciate the struggle to leave the couch, and sometimes abandon said struggle to hang out with a cat named Helen Keller (or some variation thereof), you will enjoy this book.
Slim to None by Jenny Gardiner. The subject of a food reviewer grown too large to remain incognito isn’t frothy for anyone who has fought with the scale, but rest assured happiness and weight are not stirred into one recipe, making this a tasty read.
The Journal of Mortifying Moments by Robyn Harding. The woman keeping the journal, at her therapist’s suggestion, is too fond of cream cheese frosting and too hard on herself. It’s a tender and funny tale of a person wanting to get to whatever good destination is waiting for her, despite the roadblocks and potholes (i.e. engagements, off-base mom, bad job).
On My Radar:
Powerboating Companion RIB and Sportsboat by Peter White Spiral bound and laminated, this is the reference guide every boater needs aboard for a quick reminder about distress signals, the rules of the road, basic first aid, and towing 101. It’s small, low-priced, and jam-packed! www.casemateipm.com
